Dr. Kathleen Ross, snjm

If you were to ever speculate what “angelic” looks like in a person, you may consider a visit with Dr. Kathleen Ross, a devoted Catholic sister of The Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary (SNJM). This order is dedicated to education, especially for the poor and disadvantaged. Sister Kathleen was attentive to my presence in her office on Heritage University and spoke with a soft smile and tilt of her head that showed kindness and connection to her surroundings and you understood, “I’m listening”. While hot water began to brew for her herbal tea, Sister Kathleen spoke of the lifelong friendships developed with her fellow Sisters in the order and their missions of providing for the underserved populations of Washington State. Early on she hadn’t foreseen that “God would use her in such a profound and meaningful way to lead the charge and lay the groundwork of what is now Heritage University”.

Sister Kathleen jested she was “brought into this world, predestined for work in higher education,” being that she was born in a hospital located on the Stanford University Campus, in Palo Alto, California. As she grew, As the warm aroma of freshly steeped herbal tea filled her office, Sister Kathleen shared that her parents played a great role in her emergent faith and helped her to sustain a significant relationship with God. She recalled that as a young child she would roll her eyes at her parents’ suggestion that sometimes you could hear God speaking directly to you. She was reminded of a family visit with friends in Oregon. Only in the second grade at the time, Kathleen Ross sat along the Mackenzie River perusing the many flowers growing along the brim. and listened to the lapping of the water, the songs of the birds, and the breeze whistling through the tree tops. It was this moment, Sister Kathleen said, that she “began to hear God through the rustling waters of the creek.” This was Sister Kathleen’s first experience feeling called by God.

In 1967, Sister Kathleen made her lifetime vows for the Holy name of Jesus and Mary and continued to teach high school for six years in Seattle, WA. In spring of 1971, during the height of segregation marches and martial law in Washington DC, she attended Georgetown University to develop her post-graduate background in. After graduating with a master’s degree in Non-western history, she returned to Washington, tasked by the Sisters to develop a long-range plan for the Washington State province of the Sister of Holy Names. Following this assignment, she was invited to become the Academic Vice President of Fort Wright College in Spokane, Washington – the predecessor of today’s Heritage University.

As her responsibilities at Fort Wright College continued, Sister Kathleen began to oversee the formation of outreach programs in Toppenish, WA on the Yakama Nation Reservation. This outreach expansion of Fort Wright College extended the opportunity for four-year college degrees to rural, minority and low-income populations, typically not served by higher education institutions. After a sabbatical to pursue her doctorate in Cross-cultural Studies at Claremont Graduate University, Sister Kathleen returned to Fort Wright College in 1978, finding the college in financial crisis and about to close down. In 1980, under financial strain, the decision was made to phase out Fort Wright College over an 18-month period and Sister Kathleen traveled to Toppenish to announce the closure to the outreach program she had built on the Yakama Nation Reservation.

In 1982, as Fort Wright College began to phase out, determined Toppenish outreach program leaders Martha Yallup, and Violet Rau, pressed Sister Kathleen for the launch of an independent college. When Sister Kathleen expressed hesitation, Yallup replied, “Tell us one thing we can’t do.” The community overwhelmingly supported these efforts and after a board of directors was established in 1981, Heritage College was born. The founding individuals voted Sister Kathleen president of Heritage College before she could object.

Over the next two decades, Sister Kathleen expanded the campus, programs, and outreach to create a higher education institution that is responsive to the needs of its community and provides opportunity that otherwise would not have been possible. Since its daunting launch, Heritage has grown and succeeded in its mission, “to provide quality accessible higher education to underserved populations which have been  educationally isolated” (www.heritage.edu).

In 2004, Heritage College was designated Heritage University to reflect its substantial master’s program offerings and to more accurately reflect the growing stature of its academic programs. In 2009, Sister Kathleen announced the beginning of leadership transition for the next and current President of Heritage University, Dr. John Bassett. Sister Kathleen has won many prestigious awards and has received honorary awards from over a dozen colleges and university throughout her career, but she smiled most sweetly when describing her acceptance of the 1995 Washington State Medal of Merit and receiving the MacArthur Foundation Fellow Genius Award in 1997. The success of today’s Heritage University can be traced, in a large part, to the vision of Sister Kathleen.